In the high school webcam spying situation, it has been revealed that very early on, just after those laptops were issued to students along with the spying software, a student at the high school wrote an e-mail to the head of the department that oversees the distribution of computers to students. This student had investigated the software that had been installed on the computers, and in his e-mail, he questioned why the school system was not notifying anyone about the potential for using the installed software to spy on students. The response he got was that nothing like that was ever going to occur, and that he should "take a deep breath" and stop worrying about it.
In the investigations into this situation, it has been revealed that the school system had intentionally decided not to inform anyone of the desire on the part of the school to use the software for spying because to do so would "tip off potential thieves." Wouldn't it have been advantageous to let students and others know of the potential to be photographed if a laptop was reported as stolen? Wouldn't such knowledge have served to minimize the potential for theft similar to how posted warnings about the presence of a security system can help to ward off burglars who are looking for a home to break into? I must say that it almost seems to me as though someone at the school was relishing the idea of playing the role of cop, virtually hoping that laptops would be stolen and thereby letting their security people have something exciting to do with their time. After all, the school required parents to pay for insurance on the computers, thereby making the parents of students, not the school, responsible for the funding of costs involved in insuring against any thefts that might occur. The full private investigative report, not the FBI report, is due out this coming Monday. Steve ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
